Thoughts on Life, Love, Politics, Hypocrisy and Coming Out in Mid-Life

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Why Is Gay Porn So Popular in Pakistan?

I guess Pakistan shares some of the hypocrisy and hidden yearnings for sex that simmers across America's Bible Belt, the region of America with the highest online porn usage. How else to explain Pakistan's high official intolerance of homosexuality yet the high Pakistani search engine traffic seeking gay-porn-related terms? Candidly, to me it is an example of the psychological dysfunction that goes hand in hand with fundamentalist religions that are obsessed with supposed sexual purity and chastity, yet seem to produce the most twisted and bizarre desires for what is forbidden. To me, it is no surprise that the number of predator priests and pastors is so high. A new Pew/Washington Post study looked at the Pakistani search of gay sex themes. Here are highlights from Mother Jones:

[T]he Pew Research Center published results of a public survey of gay tolerance in 39 countries worldwide.
The numbers are fairly unsurprising: While a high proportion of
respondents in Western Europe and North America answered "yes" to the
question "Should society accept homosexuality?" few respondentsin the Middle East and Africa agreed with them.

Among the least tolerant nations surveyed was Pakistan, where only 2
percent of those surveyed said society should accept homosexuality. That
statistic might be unsurprising, considering that gay sex is illegal under the Pakistani penal code. But what is surprising is how those views compare to Pakistani search traffic around gay-porn-related terms.

As of this writing, Pakistan is by volume the world leader for Google searches of the terms "shemale sex," "teen anal sex," and "man fucking man," according to Google Trends.
Pakistan also ranks second in the world (after similarly gay-intolerant
Kenya) for volume of searches for the search term "gay sex pics."

In its report, Pew noted that countries exhibiting the highest levels
of gay tolerance are largely secular, whereas nations where religion is
central to public life—such as Egypt, Nigeria, and Pakistan—tend
to reject homosexuality. But in Pakistan, what's even more peculiar is
that the highest number of hits for some of these terms, including
"shemale sex," come not from Pakistan's cosmopolitan centers, but from
Peshawar, a bastion of conservative Islam, lately known in the West as a
counterterrorism frontline.

Farahnaz Ispahani, an expert in Pakistani minorities at the Woodrow
Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former member of
Pakistan's parliament, says that homosexuality is a taboo subject
throughout the country. In major cities such as Lahore and Karachi, gays
can develop a network of allies outside their tribe or family, but in
conservative Peshawar, gay identity is more complicated. Part of the
popularity of gay porn could stem from the fact that even highly
observant Muslim males often have physical relationships with
men without considering themselves gay, she says.

"The real love they can have that most of us find with a partner, they
find with men," Ispahani says. "They mostly see their wives as the
mother of their children."

"Islamic conservatives, whether they're actually in power or the
governments in power are trying to placate them, they will tend to go to
very narrow definitions of Islam," she says. "One of the easiest ways
to do this is to come down hard on the role of women, and particularly
around sex and homosexuality." Long before the rise of Islamic conservatism, El Feki says, the
Middle East and India had a literary tradition that celebrated gay love,
but in recent years, that openness has been forgotten.

Let's be honest. Fundamentalist religion be it Christian or Muslim is a toxic evil that the world would be better off without. The hypocrisy of its practitioners and the hatred and abuse of those deemed "other" are fundamentalism's main hallmarks.

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Out gay attorney in a committed relationship; formerly married and father of three wonderful children; sometime activist and political/news junkie; survived coming out in mid-life and hope to share my experiences and reflections with others.
In the career/professional realm, I have merged my aw firm - Michael B. Hamar, P.C. - with Dillon Law group PLC and become affiliated with Liberty Title & Escrow Co.. I practice in the areas of real estate, estate planning (Wills, Trusts, Advanced Medical Directives, Financial Powers of Attorney, Durable Medical Powers of Attorney); business law and commercial transactions; formation of corporations and LLC's; and legal services to the gay, lesbian and transgender community, including birth certificate amendment.

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